Edit:
For example, electric or ocean currents since this is the global warming forum and your question does need work to be effective in communicating what you are asking despite the obvious presumptions of so many other posters.
When electric charges move through a wire, they lose some of the energy to the atoms in the wire. On receiving the energy, The atoms vibrate more and more causing the wire to heat up. Some of the Electric Energy is changed to heat energy. The higher the resistance the more the heat energy. The amount of heat generated is governed by Joule's first law:
Q = I2・R・t
where Q is the heat, I is the current, R is the resistance, and t is the time. If I is given in amperes, R in ohms, and t in seconds, the units of energy for the heat will be in Joules.
A lot depends on the appliance. For example, how is it engineered? A light bulb, for instance is designed to emit light, so it is engineered to convert most of the energy into the light spectrum, but if you touch the bulb you will see that some of the energy is converted to heat. Where as the heating element on your stove is engineered to convert most of the power, or watts, into the heat spectrum.
In both cases, given the resistance and voltage stays the same, the higher the current the more energy converted into the heat or infra-red spectrum. So current alone isn't the deciding factor, nor is power or watts. It is dependent on the construction of the appliance.
That is the heat produced when electricity goes through a resistance. The formula is q = i^2 * R
